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Business English vocabulary: Samsung’s foldable phone

This text is about Samsung’s latest mobile phone technology. Some useful phrases are highlighted and explained below. Don’t forget to answer the quiz and leave comments about the discussion questions.

Apple’s dominance of the hi-tech mobile phone market may be over sooner than you think. This year Samsung is set to come out with ‘foldable screens’ which are lighter and smaller than any iPhone. What’s even more interesting is that, in the words of one expert, “they are practically unbreakable”. The new Samsung ‘bendable phone’ will set a new standard in the mobile device market, just as the iPhone did before it. You can say bye bye to the typical phone frame design with buttons. Instead, you will just have a screen with no border that you can literally wrap around your fingers. Several internet technology sites have claimed that this groundbreaking technology could be in stores as early as the 3rd quarter of 2012. But the best is yet to come, as in 2013 Samsung will be unveiling a phone which actually folds in half. Just imagine a Nintendo DS but with 1 full screen. This new advancement is made possible by special screens incorporating AMOLED (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) technology. In fact, Samsung is the world’s leading manufacturer of these screens. Capable of displaying brighter colours and using substantially less power than a normal LCD (liquid crystal display), the AMOLED ones sound like something from a sci-fi film. Especially as they are wafer-thin. Samsung may be a long way behind Apple in the Tablet market due to the ‘one stop shop’ that is Apple iTunes but in the mobile phone one it’s a whole different story. A recent article in a leading phone magazine claimed that Samsung sells 3 times as many phones as Apple on account of its cheaper price and Android OS. Apple was once leading technical innovation in phone and computer hardware but now it just seems content with bringing out newer and more expensive versions of its existing range. Just take a look at the iPhone 4s which wasn’t vastly different to the previous model. In comparison, Samsung is pushing the envelope. Its Galaxy Note has bridged the gap between phones and tablets and is referred to as a ‘phablet’. Although Apple may have started the ball rolling, Samsung looks like ready to surpass them. Apple just doesn’t seem to have kept up and so will get left behind. In fact, they may become the new Nokia.